Jee Ray, a new joiner on the 787, about 100k. Established crew on the 380/747 could easily earn 2.5 times that amount due to the differences in the contract. This is significantly more than a 737 FO earns who, incidentally, works much harder for the dough in terms of lifestyle and days at work. It’s been an aberration for ever and management wonder why pilots are unwilling to sacrifice both money - a lot of money - and time at home to move into the right hand seat. Most junior east coast wide body FO slot is running at about 15 years seniority.
There have been no promotions for so long at QANTAS that many S/Os are well into their 40s with kids and family commitments and have discovered there are MUCH more important things in life than a 3rd stripe. A number of 737 FOs have recently bid back to the 747 to spend more time with young families. Good luck to them. Management like to talk about “work-life balance” but this is the reality of what it takes to make it happen.
The 787 contract was an attempt to remove the incentive to stay as a SO but, guess what, management couldn’t even get that right. They had the contract in place but couldn’t get their training needs right so they had to bring in new joiners on the 747 and 380, further perpetuating the current system, at least after the new joiners hit 18 months.
Short story, there is no financial or lifestyle incentive whatsoever - in fact it’s negative on both fronts - to move from the back seat on the 747 or 380 to the right seat on a maggot.
It’s even questionable financially whether you would move from a comfy FO spot on the LH types to a 737 command but more pilots seem willing to take that step as it’s a command.
Oh, and all this is before you even consider the need to uproot your family and move to Perth or Adelaide at your own expense to take a pay cut. I think my wife said, “Get f$&ked!” or something similar when I raised the topic for discussion several years ago.
Last edited by DirectAnywhere; 11th Apr 2018 at 23:13.